Methi Leaves Goli Bajo / Baje.

Methi / Fenugreek Leaves Goli Bajo / Baje ….. These Goli Bajo’s are a delite to have as a snack with hot cup of Coffee / Tea and is every Mangloreans Favourite …. For a change I have prepared them here with the addition of Methi Leaves which gives them awesome taste and makes you crave for more ….. Go ahead and Enjoy ….. Yumz ….. 

‘Goli’ means round and ‘Bajo / Baje’ means snack that is deep fried. So ‘Goli Bajo’ means a round deep fried snack. This is the most famous snack of almost every restaurant in Mangalore. This snack is really very spongy and porous from inside and crispy outside. Tastes awesome with coconut chutney or ketchup. It is really simple to prepare once you get the hang of it. Some time ripe banana is added to it for softness too. But by and large it is prepared with just flours. I have lots of methi leaves at home as it is winter and it’s the season of methi / fenugreek leaves. So today, I just prepared Goli bajo by adding finely chopped methi leaves to the same. Yumz. That really was delicious. Could not have asked for a better version of the same. This is something I am going to prepare often now as I loved it better than the normal ones. Go ahead and prepare them and enjoy with chutney or ketchup tastes too good.

Pick and clean the Methi / Fenugreek leaves. Discard the stems. Only Leaves need to be added. Chop them fine, wash in plenty of water, squeeze out all excess water from the leaves, and keep them ready aside. You will need about 1 heaped cup of washed leaves.

Sieve together 1 cup of maida, 1 heaped tblsp of besan (gram flour) with 1/2 tsp baking soda (Optional – I have not added) and put them in a large bowl. Beat and add 2 tblsp of curds. Add in salt to taste, a small piece of ginger grated, 5-6 green chillies chopped fine, a few curry leaves chopped fine, ½ tsp of hing powder, 1 heaped cup of finely chopped and washed methi / fenugreek leaves and mix well. Add in the sieved flour and mix well with the help of about ¼ to ½ cup water. 

There should be not lumps. The mixture should be smooth and creamy. If necessary, you can add in a little bit of water, but be careful the batter should not be runny. The mixture should be thick or else the goli baje will soak in oil while frying. Keep it aside at room temperature for 25-30 minutes.

Heat a medium sized thick bottom kadai with plenty of oil (around 4 cups). When it comes to smoking hot, reduce the flame to medium and wait for 5 minutes. Take a small pinch of the dough and drop in the oil, if it comes up round and nice within few minutes it means the oil is of correct temperature for frying. Keep the temperature even throughout frying of the baje / bajo’s as consistently even temperature is always necessary to get properly fried Bajo.

Drop small balls of the dough making it into round shape with the help of you fingers and running the dough on the rim of the bowl. Fry 5-6 balls at a time (the no. of balls depends upon the size of the kadai). Keep stirring the balls and rolling them to fry evenly on all sides. 

When they become well evenly browned and crispy, remove on an absorbent paper for the excess oil to drain off. Prepare the remaining dough similarly. Fry all til all are done. Methi Leaves Goli Bajo / Baje's are ready to be relished. Serve them hot with chutney or ketchup. Tastes awesome specially during winter season its bliss to have these with a cuppa of hot drink. Do prepare these delicious Goli Bajo with Methi Leaves and Enjoy with family and friends. I assure you, you will see all smiling faces around you when you serve them. I myself was really surprised with the change in the taste. It really did take the Goli Bajo which is awesome as it is to altogether another level.